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As a journalist I have written about social issues and international affairs for the Guardian, the Independent, New Internationalist, Huffington Post, Equal Times and the Big Issue in the North, among other titles. I now work at the University of Leeds as a qualified careers professional, helping international students fulfill their career ambitions

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Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the Labour leadership election on
Saturday confirmed what many have suspected for some time: the political
landscape is changing. Corbyn’s rapid rise from backbench obscurity to Leader
of the Opposition is consistent with a global trend. From Podemos in Spain to
Bernie Sanders in the US, all around the world mass movements are forming
around leaders with political messages which are radically different from the
status quo.
Yet not everyone is convinced by ‘the new politics’ with
some observers arguing that populist leaders are selling the public oversimplified
slogans rather than providing proper solutions to complex problems. An
enthusiastic debate in Manchester Central Library brought together four politically
diverse panellists to debate for and against the motion: This is the age of political easy answers. ForVanda Murray,
business leader: Public faith in politicians has fallen to an all-time low.
According to one …

(Originally published in the Big Issue in the North)
A group of women campaigning against the law of joint
enterprise have successfully crowdfunded their legal fees for a critical
intervention in a forthcoming case at the Supreme Court.
Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGBA) used the
pioneering website, Crowd Justice, to raise over £10,000 for an intervention in
the case of Ameen Hassan Jogee, whose appeal of his 2012 murder conviction will
be heard by the Supreme Court in October.
JENGBA’s lawyers will seek to use the intervention to argue
that the controversial joint enterprise doctrine has led to a number of
miscarriages of justice and the excessive criminalisation of secondary
participants in murder cases.
Janet Cunliffe, a co-founder of JENGBA whose son Jordan is also
appealing his conviction for the 2005 murder of Gary Newlove, said she hopes the
intervention will lead to the law being amended:
“This is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to go to
the Suprem…

As the UK’s Labour party
leadership contest comes down to the wire, veteran left-wing member of
parliament (MP) and surprise frontrunnerJeremy Corbynhas
mobilised thousands of young people in support of his campaign. If he doesn’t
make it to 10 Downing Street, his straight-talking anti-austerity approach has
at least renewed youthful involvement in UK politics. While those on the right of
the Labour party warn that Labour under Corbyn could never win a general election, an
opinion poll conducted in London by YouGov shows
he is the most popular candidate among the wider electorate, with young people
most likely to select him as their favorite choice for Labour leader.

George Aylett, an organiser
for Corbyn’s campaign, told Equal Times
that Corbyn’s popularity is the result of tapping into a widespread feeling of
alienation from mainstream politics.

“The problem in politics is
that so many young people have been put off by …